Garage door



June 3, 1941,. w. D. FERRls ETAL GARAGE DOOR Filed July 6, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

,June 3, 1941. w. D. FERRils Erm. 2,244,542

GARAGE DOOR i Filed July e, 1959 2 sheets-sheet 2 .la 3. J f JE Patented June 3, 1941 GARAGE DUUR William Il). Ferris, xilecil R. Wolf, and Neil' M. Foulds, Whiteside County, Ill., assigner to Frants Manufacturing @0., Sterling, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application July 6,11939, Serial No. 282,986

6 Claims. (ill. Ril- 19) This invention relates to garage doors, and more particularly to those that have an overhead open position, to which latter the door is movable bodily from its vertical or closed position.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction and arrangement whereby lever arms are pivoted or fulcrumed at their upper ends on brackets that are secured to the building at opposite sides of the doorway, and which arms have their lower ends, assuming the door is in closed position, pivoted on the lower portion of the door, inside of the latter, and whereby springs, or the equivalent pulling means, are connected to power pivots located on said arms between their bracket pivots and their door pivots, to which power pivots the said pulling means transmits suilicient power to assist in raising the door into its open adapted to resiliently cushion the movement of the door to iinal position by action of the tensioning device. In other words, the present invention contemplates the cooperative disposition ofl the tensioning spring and an arcuately movable portion of .the door control mechanism so that the parts impinge at final door open position and elastically or resiliently absorb the impact.

It is a yet more particular object of the presentinvention to provide a construction as above wherein the spring mechanism is impinged in such a manner as to be distorted laterally at a point spaced from the anchored or xed section thereof and accordingly adapted to shift laterally againstl the resilient tensioning of the spring; to provide a construction such as the foregoing wherein the spring is relatively short and capable of exerting a substantial resistance to lateral deformation operative to bring the impinging part to final predetermined position with a minimum of movement; and to provide a construction wherein the spring is adapted to be longitudinally tensioned at the impinged section.

It is also an object to provide certain novel details of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efiiciency and desirability of a garage door of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a vertical section on line i'-i in Fig. 3 of the drawings, showing the door in open position.

Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the door in vclosed position, in full lines, and showing the door partially open in dotted lines. l

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 in Fig. l of the drawings.

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective View of certain parts of the construction.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section online S--Ei in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

As thusillustrated, the door l is rigid and rec-1 tangular in form and is preferably provided with wheels 2 at its upper end to travel on thehorizontally disposed tracks 3 when the door is open and closed. When in closed position, the door i occupies a substantially vertical position in the doorway t, shown in the drawings.

At each side of the doorway, there is a metal bracket 5 rigidly secured to the building and provided With a pivot 6 to serve as a fulcrum for a metal arm l, which latter is preferably formed. of angle iron and provided with a comparatively short straight upper section 8, and a comparatively long straight lower section 9, and with an angular intermediate section id, as shown, sc that the relatively long sections 9 of the two lever arms are substantially vertical when the door is in open position, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings. It will be seen that each lever arm d has its lower end pivoted at il on the bracket I2 secured to the lower end portion of the door.

It will also be seen that each lever arm has its ange i3, which is always in a vertical plane, provided with a power pivot i4 at the elbow between the sections 8 and i0 previously described. These are called power pivots because it is at these points that power is communicated to assist in raising the door, through the leverage of the arms l previously described, and to cushion the closing movement oi the door. Pulling means, therefore, are applied to said power pivots is in the form of links I5, having their lower ends mounted on the pivots it, and having their upper ends provided with pivots I G, and coil springs4 I 'l have their lower ends connected to the pivots I6 in any suitable or desired manner.

Metal brackets I8 are secured in place at opposite sides of the doorway, above the previously mentioned brackets 5, and these brackets are provided with horizontal arms I9 that extend toward each other at opposite sides of the doorway. The upper end of each spring I1 is provided with a threaded rod 2II that extends through the adjacent bracket I9 and which is provided with an adjustable nut 2I bearing against a rounded portion 22, on the bracket I9, whereby the nuts 2| of said threaded rods can rock slightly on the portions 22 when the positions of the springs change during the opening and closing movements of the door. In this way, each spring in effect swings about an axis at itsI upper end, during the opening and closing of the door, and these two axes are ixed relatively to the building. It will be seen that the angle of the links I and of the springs I1 is substantially the same when the door is in closed position as when it is in its overhead open position, but when the door is only partially open or partially closed, the springs and their links change their angles or positions to some extent. By adjusting the nuts 2|, it will be understood, the tension of the springs I1 can be adjusted to insure the desired operation of the door.

It will be seen that with the construction shown and described, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the springs I1 are on dead center, so to speak, both when the door is in Yclosed position, and when it is in open position,

for in each case the pivots 6, I4 and I6 are directly in line with the rod 20 and hence, in either position of the door, the springs are in effect pulling on dead center. This is desirable and effective, because it insures stability of the door in either position, while at the same time making it very easy to start the door upward,

Y ,v and easy to start the door downward. It will be seen that with the narrow links I5, which are of less width than the springs, the lower ends of the latter are kept away from the parts and are prevented. from interfering with the operation thereof. In addition, by bending the lever arms 'I in the manner shown, the necessity of using any plates or projections on these arms is entirely obviated and avoided, inasmuch as each and every pivot 6, II and I4 can be located directly on the ange ofthe angle iron, which is the flange that is always in a vertical plane.

Looking at Fig, 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that the lower end of the coil spring I1 engages the adjacent arm 1, at each side of the doorway, thus in eiect cushioning the nal opening movement of the door. This is made possible, it will be seen, by the use of the links I5 at the opposite sides of the doorway, as 'this provision brings the lower ends of the springs into position to engage the arms 1 in the manner shown. Looking at Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be seen that each arm 1 is in the vertical plane of its allotted spring I1, and thus the lower ends of the springs engage the arms 1, to provide a cushioning action, when the door is raised into its overhead open position.

The springs I1 forming the pulling means are entirely below the door, in the open position of the latter, as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, of the drawings, for as shown in Fig. 3, the springs are entirely within the area of the door.

It will be seen from the construction shown and described that the two springs I1 are entirely below and underneath the door when the latter is in its overhead open position. It will also be seen that these two springs are in the parallel vertical planes of the arms 9, and hence that said springs form stops to limit the opening movement of the door, inasmuch as the said arms, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, engage the lower ends of the springs when the door is in its open position, and thus the springs yieldingly restrain the door against further horizontal motion. The two bars 22 necessarily extend underneath the door, when the latter is in its horizontal open position and thus the door moves back and forth over these bars and over the tops of these springs during the operation of opening and closing the door. At no time, in other words, does the door have occasion to pass between the two springs, and with the arrangement shown and described its could not do that, for the distance between the two springs is less than the width of the door. Thus the action oi' the springs to form yielding stops to limit the opening movement of the door is inherent in the structure shown in the drawings.

With the construction shown and described, it will be seen that the springs'scarcely change their position. In fact, when the door is open, each spring is in practically the same position that it is in when the door is closed, except that it is somewhat shorter. The lower end of the spring is always well below the upper end thereof and the lower end of the spring never swings outside the building. Thus, the equipment is not only compact structurally but it is also compact in action. 'I'he upper end of the springs always point upward and never point downward, and for these reasons the springs require only a minimum of space in which to operate, and are not required to be of excessive length.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In a mounting construction for a garage door including a vdoor frame and a door having a vertical closed position and a substantially horizontal overhead open position with respect to the frame, and including a lever, means for pivoting said lever to said frame at a fixed point, means for pivoting a spaced portion of said lever to the lower portion of the door whereby said lever is shiftable with the door about said fixed pivot between upwardly and downwardly extending iixed positions, and tensioning means acting on the lever to counterbalance the weight of the door; said tensioning means including a power pivot associated with said lever at a point intermediate of said xed and door pivot means and arcuately shiftable with said lever in a predetermined path about the fixed pivot, elastic means having a fixed portion adapted to be relatively fixed with respect to the frame and an elastically extensible portion shiftable relatively thereto, said elastic means being located with its xed portion radially outwardly of said arcuate path, link means between said extensible portion and said power pivot for transmitting power to said lever, and means associated with said lever and shiftable in an arcuate path intersecting said tensioning means at a. point adjacent said extensible portion when the lever is in substantially door-closing position for providing an elastic buffer. y

2. In a mounting construction for a garage door including a door frame and a door having a vertical closed position and a substantially horizontal overhead open position with respect to the frame, and including a lever, means for pivoting said lever to said frame at a iixed point, means for pivoting a spaced portion of said lever to the lower portion of the door whereby said lever is shiftable with the door about said xed pivot between upwardly and downwardly x extending lixed positions, and tensioning means acting on the lever to counterbalance the weight of the door; said tensioning means including a downwardly extending elastic member having means for fixing its upper end with respect to said frame and an elastically extensible lower end, a power pivot associated with said lever at a point between said fixed and door pivot means, which pointis below the upper end of the elastic means throughout the arcuate path of the lever about its said fixed pivot, link means connecting the lower end of the elastic means to said power pivot for transmitting lifting power to the lever, said lever including means disposed in a path intersecting the tensioning means adjacent said lower end when the lever is in upper door-closing position and adapted to resiliently buier closure of the door against said tensioning means.

3. In a mounting construction for a garage door including a door frame and a door having a vertical closed position and a substantially horizontal overhead open position with respect to the frame, and including a lever, means for pivoting said lever to said frame at a fixed point, means for pivoting a spaced portion of said lever to the lower portion of the door whereby said lever is shiftable with the door about said xed pivot between upwardly and downwardly extending xed positions, and tensioning means acting on the lever to counterbalance the weight of the door; said tensioning means including a power pivot associated with said lever at a point intermediate of said xed and door pivot means and arcuately shiftable with said lever in a predetermined path about the :fixed pivot, elastic means having a xed portion adapted "to be relatively xed with respect to the frame and an elastically extensible portion shiftable relatively thereto, said elastic means being located with its fixed portion radially outwardly of said arcuate path, means connecting said extensible portion to said power pivot for transmitting power to said lever, and contact means operatively associated with said lever at a point outwardly of the power pivot and shiftable with said lever in an arcuate path intersecting said tensioning means in door-closing position at a point substantially spaced :from said fixed portion for providing a resilient buier.

i. A construction as defined in claim 3, wherein said elastic means comprises a relatively short spring having its fixed portion disposed below said door when in open position.

5. A construction as dened in claim 3, wherein said elastic means comprises a relatively short spring and means for mounting said xed portion of the spring at a portion adjacent the door jamb.

6. A construction as defined in claim 3, wherein said elastic means comprises a coil spring pivotal about its xed portion to positions wherein the axis of the spring is in substantial alignment with a plane passing through said power pivot and said xed lever pivot in both open and closed positions of said door. i

WILLIAM D. FERRIS. CECIL R. WOLF. NE1L M. FOULDS. 

